Greater Houston Partnership v. Greg Abbott, Texas Attorney General And Jim Jenkins

407 S.W.3d 776, 2013 WL 491016, 2013 Tex. App. LEXIS 1030
CourtCourt of Appeals of Texas
DecidedJanuary 31, 2013
Docket03-11-00130-CV
StatusPublished
Cited by6 cases

This text of 407 S.W.3d 776 (Greater Houston Partnership v. Greg Abbott, Texas Attorney General And Jim Jenkins) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Court of Appeals of Texas primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Greater Houston Partnership v. Greg Abbott, Texas Attorney General And Jim Jenkins, 407 S.W.3d 776, 2013 WL 491016, 2013 Tex. App. LEXIS 1030 (Tex. Ct. App. 2013).

Opinions

OPINION

JEFF ROSE, Justice.

In this case, we decide whether appellant Greater Houston Partnership (GHP) is “supported,” in whole or in part, by public funds such that it is a “governmental body” subject to disclosure of information under the Texas Public Information Act (PIA). See Tex. Gov’t Code Ann. § 552.003(1) (West 2012); see generally §§ 552.001-.353 (West 2012) (provisions of the PIA). GHP appeals from the district court’s final judgment finding that GHP’s contract with the City of Houston makes it a “governmental body” under the PIA and ordering GHP to disclose its 2007 and 2008 check registers to appellee Jim Jenkins, a member of the public who requested the information under the PIA. We will affirm the district court’s judgment.

FACTUAL AND PROCEDURAL BACKGROUND

GHP is a Texas nonprofit corporation that describes itself as being akin to a chamber of commerce for a ten-county area centered around the City of Houston, Texas. Its corporate purpose, as set forth in its articles of incorporation, is “the promotion of the economic stability and growth” of the Houston area, “maintaining a chamber of commerce for the purpose of promoting the public interest” in the Houston area, “acquiring, preserving, and disseminating valuable business information,” and “generally promoting and assisting the improvement of commercial, industrial, agricultural, civic, and cultural affairs” of the Houston area. It describes its principal objective as “build[ing] regional economic prosperity,” by “facilitating] relocations and expansions in the Houston area; international outreach initiatives such as business development missions outside the U.S. and receiving foreign trade delegations; and strategic planning.” According to GHP, it has an annual operating budget of approximately $11.7 million, the bulk of which comes from its 2,100 member companies, but it also receives public funds “to provide research, advertising, and economic development services to the City of Houston, Harris County, Port of Houston Authority, and The Woodlands.” GHP maintains that those public funds “are payments for services rendered pursuant to contract.” Of particular relevance to this case are two of GHP’s contracts with the City of Houston, roughly covering the years 2007 and 2008, under which the City of Houston paid GHP $1.67 million in public funds. Under the terms of these contracts, GHP agrees “to improve the economic prosperity of Houston and the Houston Airport System” (HAS) by performing the following broadly stated scope of services:

[779]*7791. Identifying new business opportunities, securing economic incentives, and increasing outreach and recruitment activities to the region’s targeted key industries to strengthen the City of Houston as a competitive place to do business.
2. Conducting qualitative and quantitative research to assist HAS and the City of Houston’s convention and visitor’s bureau with their marketing efforts.
3. Supporting and coordinating HAS on a comprehensive marketing program to develop new air routes and international business.
4. Promoting HAS stories in international markets and highlighting HAS efforts to provide airports allowance for expansion and ease of transportation.
5. Coordinating on matters of mutual interest before the United States Congress, federal agencies, the Texas State Legislature, and Texas agencies.
6. Providing the City of Houston with full membership and exclusive benefits as a general partner of GHP.
7. Providing the City of Houston with tables/tickets to various events.

In return for these services, the City of Houston paid GHP $196,250 per quarter, or $785,000 total, under the 2007 contract and $221,250 per quarter, or $885,000 total, under the 2008 contract.

In May 2008, Jenkins submitted a public-records request to GHP seeking a copy of GHP’s cheek register for “all checks issued for the year 2007,” including the number, date, payee, and amount for each check listed. GHP denied that it was a “governmental body” subject to the PIA such that it had to comply with Jenkins’s request and referred the matter to appellant, the Texas Attorney General (Attorney General), whose office is responsible for processing challenges to open-records requests under the PIA. See Tex. Gov’t Code Ann. § 552.306. GHP did not object to the breadth of Jenkins’s request or seek to narrow its scope. The Attorney General’s Open Records Division issued a letter ruling in February 2008 finding that GHP fell within the PIA’s definition of “governmental body” and, as a result, that the information requested by Jenkins was subject to disclosure under the PIA as public information.1

In response to the Attorney General’s letter ruling, GHP filed this suit against the Attorney General seeking declaratory judgment that GHP is not a governmental body under the PIA, that the Attorney General has no jurisdiction over GHP, and that the Attorney General’s letter ruling that GHP is a “governmental body” under the PIA is incorrect and without force. Jenkins, the requestor, subsequently intervened in the case. After a bench trial, the district court found that GHP received public funds from the City of Houston “to provide economic development and promotion services,” that GHP and the City of Houston “shared the common purpose or objective of economic development and promotion,” and that the contract between GHP and the City of Houston created an “agency-type relationship.” Based on these findings, the district court concluded that GHP was supported by public funds, that GHP was a “governmental body” under the PIA, and that the requested infor[780]*780mation was “public information” subject to disclosure under the PIA. The district court then rendered a take-nothing judgment against GHP and ordered GHP to disclose the requested information to Jenkins. It is from this judgment that GHP appeals.

ANALYSIS

GHP brings two issues on appeal. The first challenges the district court’s finding that GHP is a “governmental body” required to disclose public records under the PIA. Specifically, GHP asserts that the district court “failed to follow traditional rules for construing GHP’s contracts and erred in finding that GHP’s 2007 and 2008 contracts with the City of Houston made GHP an ‘agent’ of the City of Houston that is ‘supported’ with public funds and whose internal check registers are subject to public disclosure.” The district court should have focused, GHP asserts, on whether GHP, based on its contracts to provide services to the City of Houston, was “supported in whole or in part” by public funds. See Tex. Gov’t Code Ann. § 552.003(l)(A)(xii) (emphasis added by GHP). In its second issue, argued in the alternative, GHP contends that even if it was a “governmental body” subject to the PIA when the records at issue were created in 2007 and 2008, it was no longer a “governmental body” by the time the district court issued its final judgment because it had by that time renegotiated its contract with the City of Houston, and its new contract included provisions that modified the parties’ relationship to, according to GHP, make it clear that GHP is not subject to the PIA. Thus, GHP argues, the court had no jurisdiction to order GHP to disclose its records.

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407 S.W.3d 776, 2013 WL 491016, 2013 Tex. App. LEXIS 1030, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/greater-houston-partnership-v-greg-abbott-texas-attorney-general-and-jim-texapp-2013.